PwC is expanding its cloud-based solutions business with the acquisition of Outbox Group.
Outbox, which is based in Poland, specialises in customer, digital and technology services and works with platforms such as Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle and SAP.
The purpose of the acquisition is to boost PwC’s ability to offer specialised cloud-based solutions and transformational services, the company said.
This isn’t the first move the company has made to build up its capabilities; the acquisitions of European consultancy Mokum and Booz & Company in 2014 combine with the Outbox deal to give PwC almost 3,000 technology practitioners across EMEA.
PwC also isn’t the only company to be making significant moves to increase its consultancy offerings.
Accenture, Capgemini and Mindtree have all made acquisitions in the early days of 2016, all with a focus on expanding their expertise in dealing with products from companies like Salesforce and SAP.
Accenture’s acquisition of Cloud Sherpas last year and Mindtree acquired a Salesforce Platinum consulting partner this week called Magnet 360.
A key focus for PwC is to help businesses with transformational services, which is basically looking at companies going through a digital transformation.
This includes areas of improvement such as increasing cloud adoption and modernising the business, much of which revolves around technology like the CRM system, which is why companies like PwC want to increase their expertise in this area.
Jonathan Tate, PwC, UK & EMEA consulting leader, said: "Our clients are prioritising growth and investing to deliver great experiences to their customers. This acquisition was driven by a rising demand from our clients in digital and customer transformation as well as the need to offer services from strategy through to execution."
According to the company, the acquisition will enable PwC to offer a "truly differentiated offering" that will help the company to deliver larger transformational solutions to businesses across the UK and EMEA.
The market that PwC is trying to more heavily tap into is estimated to be worth over six billion Euros if you take into customer experience, CRM and digital, highlighting how big a business opportunity it is for consulting firms in just these areas.
According to research from Sungard, a large amount of organisations (83%) fear that they will have a shortage or essential skills for managing a Hybrid IT environment; this is where consultancy firms can step in and bridge the skills gap, particularly when you consider that 77% view Hybrid IT as a necessary part of staying competitive.
It is the complexity of these business projects that is increasing the demand from companies for skilled experts that can help them to navigate the deep waters in their transformational journey.
Outbox was created 10 years ago in Poland and the deal will see more than 250 of its employees join PwC once the deal is completed which is expected to formally happen next month.
The company is built up of firms spread across 157 countries with more than 208,000 employees.
